_________________Socialism! That's that word that your politicians use that it's so nasty. Socialism. Other places just call it sharing. It's a good thing! You just share and give some to the less fortunate. -Fred Eaglesmith

We shouldn’t give up on poetry, if only because we need a different public language to describe our country.

Many of us think of poetry as so refined that we can only refer to it occasionally, like fine silverware that you can’t put in the dishwasher. Piercing minds go mute around poetry. It is imagined to be overly technical, like advanced arithmetic; otherworldly, priestess-like; suffocatingly personal; excessively decorative; exhaustingly bourgeois or tiringly avant-garde. (Some of this is true, especially the bourgeois part.)

Yet we shouldn’t give up on poetry, if only because we need a different public language to describe our country. Conventional public discourse is boring, too familiar and brittle: the spray-on-tan blather of pundits on CNN, the coo of commerce, the drained, template-like rhetoric of political speech.

That’s where poetry, that oft-forgotten form, comes in, a specific kind of verse called “civic poetry.” Civic poetry is public poetry. It is political poetry. It is about the hard stuff of life: money, crime, gender, corporate excess, racial injustice. It gives expression not just to our rites but also to our problems and even our values; these poems are not about rustic vacations.

Civic poetry is ascending. It has asserted itself in recent years in the form of poetry slams and, of course, political rap, but now it is rising again on the page, in the work of poets like Claudia Rankine. In 2014 she won every national prize in sight for her book Citizen. It’s inspired work, one of whose themes is............

If you can keep your head when all about youAre losing theirs and blaming it on you;If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,But make allowance for their doubting too:If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or being hated don't give way to hating,And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream- -and not make dreams your master;If you can think- -and not make thoughts your aim,If you can meet with Triumph and DisasterAnd treat those two impostors just the same:.If you can bear to hear the truth you've spokenTwisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winningsAnd risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,And lose, and start again at your beginnings,And never breathe a word about your loss:If you can force your heart and nerve and sinewTo serve your turn long after they are gone,And so hold on when there is nothing in youExcept the Will which says to them: 'Hold on! '

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,Or walk with Kings- -nor lose the common touch,If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,If all men count with you, but none too much:If you can fill the unforgiving minuteWith sixty seconds' worth of distance run,Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,And- -which is more- -you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

_________________Who are these...flag-sucking halfwits fleeced fooled by stupid little rich kids They speak for all that is cruel stupidThey are racists hate mongers I piss down the throats of these Nazis Im too old to worry whether they like it Fuck them.HST.

[from Wiki]"The White Man's Burden: The United States and the Philippine Islands" (1899), by Rudyard Kipling, is a poem about the Philippine–American War (1899–1902), in which he invites the United States to assume colonial control of that country.

He also coined the phrase "east is east, west is west, never the twain shall meet" (that was in Ballad of East and West, 1889).

George Orwell famously said of him, Kipling was "a jingo imperialist", explaining that he was "morally insensitive and aesthetically disgusting".

... BTW, I also like some of his poetry, as well, nonetheless. Politically incorrect people, especially by modern standards, can still make some good art.

_________________-- Tis an ill wind that blows no minds.Malaclypse the Younger

thanks for pointing out all kiplings bad points since i knew little of him outside of being a brit and being in india.i still appreciate his poem which i chose to memorize for school.

in fact i have a gilded edge copy framed hanging next to my mares picture on the wall right there.it came from the connestoga wagon in near perfect condition in the barn at the ranch when theypulled the wagon out to take back to Kansas...after about 60years.

_________________Who are these...flag-sucking halfwits fleeced fooled by stupid little rich kids They speak for all that is cruel stupidThey are racists hate mongers I piss down the throats of these Nazis Im too old to worry whether they like it Fuck them.HST.

The Terrible BulletBullet can I ask you a questionWhy are you so terrible in the wake of your onslaught things turn horribleSee how you rip though bodies and kill so many dreamsJust a ripple from the trigger sends blood flowing in streamsMade by man but yet given a life of your ownYou are not the solution because you break up many a happy homePeople dealing with issues thinking that you can solve themYet in the end you become their greatest problemLook at the damage that you do to their worldTaking the lives of innocent boys and girlsO bullet they say that you know no nameBut yet in life you play such a deadly gameYou have no eyes so therefore you can’t seeBlind to the fact that you are killing off humanityI wonder if you knew your crimes would you repentAnd if so would you claim that the deaths you caused wasn’t meantWould you just blame man and absolve yourself of guiltWrapping your conscience up in an unmerciful quiltNothing but a piece of steelYet your fatal consequences are so realI must ask of those who have emotions that feel Why has the bullet been given the power to killNot even knowing those whom it may slayYet those precious lives won’t live to see another dayRecently I read about the child that was shot and killedI guess they had to go because this is what heaven willedBut why were you so unremorseful in what you didDon’t you realize that the life that you took was that of a kidO mighty bullet let me ask you another questionBecause every day your deadly deeds be having me guessingI wonder at your worth but I still can’t figure it outDeath and destruction is what you are all aboutLook at how you tore through that woman’s heartRipping her entire family apartThen you have these greedy businessmen that become a gun dealerThem as well as the triggerman is the real killerLook at the precious souls that you have forsakenYou have become a favorite tool of SatanIron is supposed to be a precious metalBut it is used for the wrong purposes by humans controlled by the devilHe destroys the souls that he possessEven the killer kills a part of themselves in the processSo bullet who do you answer toIs destruction the only way that you pay your dueAll it takes is a pull of the trigger to unleash your furyShutting down all the factories that makes bullets would be the best theoryBecause a lifeless bullet can take a life of its ownOnce released into the air it is terror proneTraveling at the speed of lightAll it takes is one bullet to end a lifeCausing grief and destroying so muchA lot of havoc can be reaped from a bullet’s touchMan fingers the trigger and then he pulls itLittle does he realize the endless consequences of the terrible bullet

Look out your window, baby, there's a scene you'd like to catchThe band is playing "Dixie", a man got his hand outstretchedCould be the FÅhrerCould be the local priestYou know sometimes Satan, you know he comes as a man of peace.

He got a sweet gift of gab, he got a harmonious tongueHe knows every song of love that ever has been sungGood intentions can be evilBoth hands can be full of greaseYou know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, first he's in the background, and then he's in the frontBoth eyes are looking like they're on a rabbit huntNobody can see through himNo, not even the Chief of PoliceYou know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, he catch you when you're hoping for a glimpse of the sunCatch you when your troubles feel like they weigh a tonHe could be standing next to youThe person that you'd notice leastI hear that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, he can be fascinating, he can be dullHe can ride down Niagara Falls in the barrels of your skullI can smell something cookingI can tell there's going to be a feastYou know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

He's a great humanitarian, he's great philanthropistHe knows just where to touch you honey, and how you like to be kissedHe'll put both his arms around youYou can feel the tender touch of the beastYou know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, the howling wolf will howl tonight, the king snake will crawlTrees that've stood for a thousand years suddenly will fallWanna get married ? Do it nowTomorrow all activity will ceaseYou know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.Somewhere Mama's weeping for her blue-eyed boyShe's holding them little white shoes and that little broken toyAnd he's following a starThe same one them three men followed from the EastI hear that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

_________________Socialism! That's that word that your politicians use that it's so nasty. Socialism. Other places just call it sharing. It's a good thing! You just share and give some to the less fortunate. -Fred Eaglesmith

Deny them justiceDeny them opportunityDeny them the fruits of their laborDeny them equal treatment under the lawPunish them harsherCharge them moreRelegate them to extremesDeny their freedomDeny their HumanityDeny their dignityDeny them loveDeny them peaceDeny them timeDeny their innocence

then wonder why

Why are they not like you and I?

we who abide by the lawwe who work hard and play by the ruleswe who use our time wiselywe of flesh and bonewe who earn our keepwe who respect ourselveswe who are freewe who lovewe who never cheatwe who are justwe who only want peace

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum